Huller rib



Jan. 11, 1938. Y STREUN 2,104,889

HULLER RI B Filed April 30, 1956 Patented Jan. 11, I938 -ATENT OFFECE HULLER RIB John A. Streim, Sherman, Tex, assignor to Hardwicke-Etter Company, a corporation Application April 30, 1936, Serial No. 77,099

9 Claims.

My invention relates to the construction of huller ribs employed in cotton gins.

It is now common in ordinary cotton gins to provide at a point spaced from the ginning ribs a set of hulling ribs the purpose of which is to eliminate the hulls from the lobes of cotton before it is carried up into the roll chamber by the ginning saws. The difiiculty which is to be overcome by the present invention arises through the ginning of the cotton with a fairly long staple, and particularly under circumstances when the cotton lint is damp from rain or otherwise. It is found that the long lint upon the cotton will be caught by the teeth of the saws and carried upwardly against the hullingribs so as to lie across two or more ribs. The saws tend to move the cotton upwardly along the hulling ribs with the result that the lint is pulled around the ribs and crowded up to the upper ends of the slots between adjacent ribs and is bunched at this point insuch manner as to cause the cotton lint to be torn and broken. The cotton lint being crowded up to the upper ends of the slots causes an accumulation at that point until it tends to clog the saws. The saws cutting through this lint eventually set up such a high friction that the lint may catch fire with serious damage to the gin and perhaps to the whole plant.

It is an object of my invention to so construct the hulling ribs that the lint will not collect at the upper ends of the slots between the hulling ribs but will be carried on through with the ginning saws and leave a clear opening for the saws at all times. r

I desire to prevent the breaking of the cotton lint around the hulling ribs and to allow it -te be moved from its position around the ribs and to be carried along with the saw in its rotation.

I have as an object to provide an opening or break in the hulling ribs at a point adjacent the upper ends whereby the lint may slip between ends of the ribs and thus not be injured. I further desire to provide means cooperating with the gin saws to move the cotton from the upper ends oi the hulling ribs and assure that the cotton does not get caught and wedged about the hulling ribs. The invention consists partly in the construction of a simple and economical type of picker roller which will tend to remove the lint from engagement about the hulling ribs.

In the drawing herewith Fig. 1 is a broken vertical section through a cotton gin having hulling ribs thereon constructed in accordance with my invention. 1

Fig. 2 is a broken front elevation of the hulling ribs, the view being taken approximately in the direction of arrow 2. Fig. 3 is a broken front elevation of the picker roll employed in combination with the improved hulling ribs.

My invention is adapted to be employed with any modern form of cotton gin. I have illustrated the same in connection with the forward portion of the gin in such manner as to illustrate the position and construction of the hulling ribs. The gin i here shown is formed with a forward gin breast 2 having an upper opening or hop-per 3 through which the cotton is fed to the machine. Toward the lower side of the gin breast is an inclined plate or baffle 4, which is preferably made of sheet metal to direct the cotton toward the gin saws. This sheet metal deflecting plate is supported on its forward side by a bracket 5 attached to the inner side of the gin breast.

The cotton passing along the deflecting plate 4 is carried to the gin saws 6 by a rotating roll I. -This roller is of the usual form having outwardly extending pins or spikes 8 inclined rearwardly from the direction of rotation of the roller, the roller being rotatable in the direction to carry 'the cotton over the upper side toward the gin H saws.

Below the roller 1 the housing is formed into a trough-like chamber 9 in which a screw conveyer I0 is operable to carry from the gin housing trash and dirt which fall from the cotton.

The gin saw cylinder 6 is mounted upon a shaft H and is rotatable in a counterclockwise direction as seen in the drawing, the teeth 52 being inclined in the direction to carry the cotton upwardly into the roll box l3. The forward side of the roll box is arcuate in shape. There is a wall [4 toward the lower side which at its upper end is rounded 01f and contacts with the lower end l5 of a swinging door Hi. This door may be swung forwardly so as to give access to the roll box when necessary. The rearward side I 7 of the roll box is also arcuate in shape, the box being thus adapted to contain a roll of cotton which is rotatable in the box through the action of the gin saws which engage the lint and carry it past the gin ribs l8.

The ginning ribs shown are of ordinary construction. They are supported at their upper end on the frame IQ of the roll box and at their lower ends are secured to a cross bar 20 in the frame of the housing.

Spaced forwardly from the ginning ribs are the hulling ribs 2|. Said ribs are secured at their lower ends to a cross member 22 in the housing and are extended upwardly in the usual manner.

Instead of being made in a single piece the hulling ribs are interrupted or split adjacent their upper ends to provide any opening therethrough to allow the passage of cotton lint as will be described. With reference to Fig. 2 it will be noted that I have shown the hulling ribs as being made from one or more plates of metal. The lower ends ofthe plate or plates are imperforate except for elongated screw receiving openings 31 but at a point adjacent the ginning saws the plates are slotted out to provide openings 24 through which the ginning saws 6 may pass. The upper ends of the hulling ribs are connected with a plate or plates 25 which are slotted upwardly from the gap or opening 23 to a point spaced somewhat above the ginning saws as shown at 26 in Fig. 2. The openings 37 in the lower rib plates allow vertical adjustment of the lower ribs to control the size of the gap 23. Thus, it will be seen that the hulling ribs 2| are interrupted or split between their ends and adjacent the peripheries of the saws to provide a transversely disposed gap 23, and that the upper section 25 has associated therewith revoluble means 28 having fingers or vanes 3!, which during the operation of the gin, may be sequentially moved through the slots or spaces between the ribs in the upper section 25 to conduct the cotton lint collected on the upper section and between the slots 26, which otherwise would have a tendency to clog the tops of the huller ribs, to the gap 23 where the cotton is carried by thegin saws 6 through the gap and into the roll box l3. In other words, revoluble means are so disposed relative to the upper section and the gap to preclude the cotton locks from clogging the tops of the huller ribs over the saws.

As will be seen in Fig. l, the break or opening 23 in the hulling ribs is at a point where the teeth of the saws pass in their upward movement. This will allow the passage of the lint over the lower ends of the ribs, as shown at 21 in the drawing, so that the lint will not get caught at the upper ends of the slots.

Closely adjacent the forward side of the hulling ribs is a rotatable picker roll 28. This roll is made up of a shaft 29 having fixed thereon a plurality of adjacent hubs 30 upon which are formed opposite fingers or spikes 3|, which are adapted to pass between the upper ends of the huller ribs in rotation. As will be noted from the drawing each hub has two opposed fingers thereon and each hub has the fingers set at right angles to those on the hubs adjacent thereto. Each hub is attached to the shaft by a set screw and is easily removable when desired. As will be noted, the fingers taper from the hub toward a point and are rounded so as not to cut or tear the cotton. The picker roll thus constructed is rotated as shown by the arrow to move the fingers downwardly along the upper ends 26 of the slots between adjacent hulling ribs and move the cotton down toward the gaps 23 and allow it to be carried past the ribs by the gin saws.

The remainder of the cotton gin is of conventional type and as it has no feature of novelty it need not be described in detail. The cotton may be removed from the gin saws by a blast of air delivered through the nozzle 32 toward the outlet flue 33 or by any other suitable means, such as a brush gin or the like. There is a mote board 34 above the nozzle acting to deflect the motes downward toward the conveyer 35.

In the operation of my device the cotton will be fed to the gin saws from the gin breast as previously noted through the assistance of the roller 1. The gin saws will engage the lint of the cotton and tend to carry it upwardly into the roll box, the hulls being removed from the cotton as the lint is drawn through between the hulling ribs. Even though the lint be long and damp and therefore tending to string about the adjacent hulling ribs and thus be pushed up to the upper ends of the slots, it will be seen that the lint will be allowed to pass through the gap or opening 23 in the hulling ribs and be carried past the ribs without breaking or tearing. The width of the gap 23 may be varied to suit the character of cotton being ginned. There will be little tendency for the cotton lint to be carried .up to the upper ends of the slots 26 by the adjacent ribs. Such cotton lint as is carried past the gap 23 will be moved downwardly toward the gap by rotation of the picker roll 28. In this manner the clogging of the cotton around the hulling ribs is entirely eliminated.

This combination of the improved form of hulling rib with the picker roll rotating in the manner described results in a very effective action of the hulling ribs in eliminating the hulls and preventing the tearing of the lint. The space between adjacent hulling ribs is not clogged with cotton and danger of fire from this source is also prevented. The advantages of this construction will be apparent.

What is claimed as new is:

1. A cotton gin of the class described including gin saws, hulling ribs associated with the saws, said ribs being interrupted to provide rib sections having a gap between the opposed inner ends of the ribs, and means adjacent the gap and extending into the slots between the ribs of one of the rib sections for moving the cotton lint collected thereon toward the gap and the gin saws.

2. A cotton gin of the class described including gin saws, hulling ribs associated with the saws, said ribs being interrupted to provide an upper section and a lower section separated by a transversely disposed gap, and movable means extending between the ribs of the upper section to move the cotton collected thereon towards the gap and the gin saws without breaking or tearing the cotton.

3. A cotton gin of the class described including a roll box, gin saws associated with the roll box for conducting the cotton thereto, hulling ribs associated with the gin saws, each of said ribs being interrupted to provide an upper section and a lower section separated by a transversely disposed gap, and revoluble means extending between saws, said hulling ribs comprising an upper sec-.

tion and a lower section, each of said sections having inwardly disposed aligned ribs having their opposed inner ends spaced from one another to provide a gap, revoluble means adjacent said gap and having diametrically opposed fingers extending within the spaces formed between the ribs in the upper section for moving the cotton lint on the ribs of the upper section toward the gap.

5. A cotton gin of the class described including.

. saws, said hulling ribs comprising an upper section and a lower section, each of said sections having inwardly disposed aligned ribs having their opposed inner ends spaced from one another to provide a gap, revoluble means adjacent'said gap and having arms extending within the spaces formed between the ribs in the upper section for moving the cotton lint collected on the upper section toward the gap, and means for adjusting one 'of the sections relative to the other to vary the Width of the gap.

6. A cotton gin of the class described including a set of ginning ribs, gin saws extending between the gin ribs, hulling ribs associated with the gin saws, said hulling ribs comprising an upper section and a lower section, each of said sections having inwardly disposed aligned ribs having their opposed ends spaced from one another to provide a gap, revoluble means adjacent said gap and having arms extending within the spaces formed between the ribs in the upper section for moving the lint collected on the upper section toward the gap, and means for adjusting the lower section of the hulling ribs relative to the upper section to control the width of the gap.

7. A cotton gin of the class described including a roll box, gin saws associated with the roll box for conducting the cotton thereto, an upper plate secured to the front of the roll box adjacent the saws and provided with depending spaced ribs, a lower plate secured to the gin and having upwardly extending spaced ribs registering with adjacent ribs on the upper plate, said gin saws extending through the openings between the ribs on the lower plate, the aligned ribs on said plates being spaced from one another adjacent the peripheries of the saws to provide a gap, and a picker roll having diametrically opposed fingers arranged to extend within the openings between the ribs of the upper plate, said picker roll being positioned relative to the saws, whereby during the operation of the gin, cotton collected on the ribs of the upper plate is moved by the fingers toward the gap and carried by the saws through the gap and into the roll box.

8. A cotton gin of the class described including gin saws, hulling ribs in cooperative relation to the saws, said ribs being interrupted to provide an upper section and lower section separated by a transversely disposed gap, the ribs of the lower section extending upwardly adjacent the saw teeth and the ribs of the upper section terminating short of the saw teeth so that the transverse gap is located outside of the saw teeth to provide a clear space for the cotton to pass through, and revoluble means so disposed relative to the upper section and to the gap as tomove the cotton collected on said upper section towards the gap and the gin saws to prevent the cotton from looping around the ribs and congesting thereon.

9. A cotton gin of the class described including gin saws, hulling ribs in'cooperative relation to the saws, said ribs being interrupted to provide an upper section and lower section separated by a transversely disposed gap, the ribs of the lower section extending upwardly adjacent the saw teeth and the ribs of the upper section terminating short of the saw teeth so that the transverse gap is located outside of the saw teeth to provide a clear space for the cotton to pass through, revoluble means so disposed relative to the upper section and to the gap as tomove the cotton collected on said upper section towards the gap and the gin saws to prevent the cotton from looping around the ribs and congesting thereon, and means for adjusting one of said sections relative to the other to vary the width of the gap.

JOHN A. STREUN. 

